but I had never seen the play staged.Over the decades that have raced by, I never forgot Arthur Miller's compelling dramaof Willy Loman and his family.Willy Loman is the protagonist of the play,a 63-year-old traveling salesman,who strove for the American Dreamand failed in his attempt.

Throughout its many productions since then,on broadway, on television, and in the movies,the drama has received critical acclaim and many awards,including the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama,and an unprecedented four Tonys forBest Broadway Production.

I first studied this play in 1967,at a time when anything seemed possible.Yes, there were many difficult and troubling thingshappening in the world then,but we Baby Boomers believedthat we would change the world for the better.The play resonated with me then because Willy and Linda Loman made me thinkof my parents and their struggle to provide a good education and a better future for my four siblings and myself.At that time I was bubbling over with optimism and a sense of my world opening up and expanding.I truly did not understand thenwhat it meant to work long and hard and to have unrealized dreams.In Willy Loman's character, I glimpsed my father's darknessand his lifelong battle to overcomemental and physical illnesses.In Linda, Willy's supportive wife,I sensed my mother's deep love for her husband and childrenand her determination to hold our family together.I waited in the theater with such anticipation!I wanted to see how the play would impact memore than four decades and a lifetime later.

It seemed to take forever for the 450 seats in the Space Theatre to fill up ~but fill up it did.This cozy theatre-in-the-round with its center stageand simple set provides its audience with an intimate experience of Death of a Salesman.During the productionit feels like you can reach outand touch the actors as they move about the almost bare stage.

The lights go down, the spotlight comes up,and an exhausted Willy trudges in with two suitcases.He is beaten down, and returning from a canceled business trip to New England.For thirty-four years,Willy has worked as a salesmanfor the same companypursuing the American Dream.

Throughout his long career, Willy has relied ondressing right,being well-liked,and working hard to be successful.However, Willy's careeris on a downhill slide.He vacillatesbetweenrecognizing his harsh realityand hiding from the truth in delusions about his successas a husband, a father, and a salesman.

Neither he nor his sons have succeeded socially or in business.In fact, Biff steals, and Happy chases chippies.Linda, wife and mother, loves her familydespite the weaknesses of her husband and sons.She worries about what will happen to them all.She worries about Willy committing suicide.This tragedy of the common manbuildsto a gritty and climatic family argument and Willy's suicide in a car accident.

shared stories of how they had survived the Great Depression.It's effects lingered in my Great Aunt Nan's drying and reusing paper towelsand in the sugar-rationed recipes she still baked with.Today, five years out from the near collapseof the financial system and the housing market, Death of a Salesman resonates ~it has a relevance today that it didn't have when I first read it.For so many the American Dream is slipping away.And for many more it seems unreachable.Income inequality in the United States,which is a measure of the gap,between the rich and the poor in a society,has increased greatly in recent decades.The US is now has the largest income gapof any developed country, especially English-speaking ones.In fact, the US ranks just below Nigeria,a country with some of the worst political corruption in the world,and one which experienced a nationwide strike and protestsover income inequality last year.Source: The Washington Post 9/27/2013

An important part of the American Dreamare the beliefs that by working hardyou can climb higher up the economic ladder in your lifetime and that your children can achieve a higher standard of livingthan you did during their lifetimes.Upward mobility in the US is changing.It no longer seems to be the land of opportunity with exceptional mobility rates that it once was.It now ranks with Britain in inter-generational mobilityand lags many of the twenty countries in the OECD(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).Source: Brookings 9/23/2013

Willy Loman's struggles are the reality for too many Americans today.They reach for the American Dreambut it remains an illusion,as they contend with unemployment,stagnated or decreasing wages,foreclosure, student debt,and downward mobility.

My parents sacrificed so much to give my three sisters, my brother, and mean education which propelled each of us to successful careers and into stable, loving family relationships.But we worry that no matter how muchwe have loved, supported, and encouraged our next generation,and no matter how hard these talented young men and womenstudy, work, and pursue their dreams,they face much more challenging economic and social times than we ever did.The Denver Theatre Company's production of Death of a Salesmanis excellent.The audience that watched this drama with us last Saturdaysat barely breathing through many riveting scenes.Under Anthony Powell's direction, the talented actorsMike Hartman (Willy Loman),Laura Klein (Linda Loman)John Patrick Hayden (Biff Loman)and M. Scott McLean (Happy Loman),brought this Brooklyn family's delusions and conflicts vividly alive.They made it a drama for our time.Attend this production if you can!If you can't, consider reading this relevant classic.It is as much about today as it was about the America of over sixty years ago.For some photos of the The Denver Theatre Company's production click here.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

If you like to take a walk on the wild side,there is no better place to do so than in the remote and beautiful Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Canada with Newfoundland and Labrador in Red

This unique place is not for everyone.It is a raw land,scraped bare by glaciersand scultped by wind and water.
Source: Wikimedia

This remarkable land holds a special place in my heart.I was privileged to live and to work there in my past.This province is so different, so other;and, nothing more so than its language.Your ear needs time to adjust to this province's grammar, syntax, lexicon, and cadence.When I first arrived in Westport on White Bay in 1971,I couldn't grasp what Westporters were sayingas words came at me rapid fire.

Westport on White Bay, Newfoundland, 2011

Garbage Bin Showing the Location

of Westport on White Bay, Newfoundland, 2011

If I was lucky, I could piece together the gist of the conversation,but often I was flat out flummoxed!

A Westporter would think of our conversation:I'm not talkin too fast.You're listenin too slow.(Source: phrase attributed to singer John White)

My sister Bertie (coral) and I (turquoise)

with Our Long Time Family Friend Dulcie

on a Recent Trip to Westport

Slowly but surely my ears listened faster,and I began to comprehend their spoken words.I fell in love with this rich and original language with its lexicon of rare and unusual words.For me one word typifies the essence of the province: tuckamore.

Tuckamore, Broom Point, Newfoundland, 2011

If you walk almost anywhere along the exposed coasts of the province,especially those of the Great Northern Peninsula and the Strait of Belle Isle,

you will find tuckamore.

Tuckamore Behind the Signs, Blanc Sablon, Quebec, 2011
Left to Quebec ~ Right to Labrador
Exiting the St. Barbe ~ Blanc Sablon Ferry

Stunted, contorted, intertwined and dense, tuckamore is shaped by the harsh wind, the salt spray, and the acid soil

of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Tuckamore, Broom Point, Newfoundland, 2011

The origin of tuckamore is in a combination of two words:tucking ~ tugging or pulling (as in tucking a net), andmore ~ an archaic word for root.(Burzynski, Michael, Gros Morne National Park, Breakwater Books Ltd., St. John's, NF, p. 85)

Tuckamore is almost impenetrable.Any exposed part of the forest dries up, dies, and breaks offforming a tangle of vegetation that shreds and rips and scratches.Surprisingly people have been known to reston the surfaceof tuckamore.